Customer Reviews

Latin: An Intensive Course

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of the several Latin grammars I have used (or tried to use), Intensive Latin clearly ranks as my favorite. The book is very thorough but incredibly concise, so much that you might miss some of the details the first time through. As a consolation, however, the book has an excellent index system, such that even each vocabulary entry has an associated chapter number. The contents are arranged fairly logically, although this might not seem apparent to the newcomer. Each chapter (or "unit") succinctly presents several concepts, and ends with a vocabulary list and extensive drills, exercises, and readings. Interspersed among the units are multi-unit reviews that provide self-exercises and generally help the reader better assimilate the information contained in the previous units. The book concludes with an appendix summarizing all the grammar concepts, two vocabulary lists (Latin-English and English-Latin), and an index. Having used the book in a college course, I did not note any errors in the book's content. The book clearly focuses on "classical Latin", as indicated by the vocabulary lists and reading selections. However, one studying this book will be more than sufficiently prepared to tackle reading Medieval Latin sources. Corroborating the statements of a fellow reviewer, I found that the binding really is poor. Anyone using the book seriously will have to glue, tape, or otherwise rectify the situation to keep all the pages in one spot and in the proper order. This book is completely undeserving of such a substandard edifice! In sum, I highly recommend Intensive Latin to the serious student. Less eager individuals might find themselves swept away by the rapidity of presentation.

Picture yourself at the edge of a pool--a pool of Latin that is. Most Latin course books will hold your hand as they gently guide you to the steps at the shallow end. Not so with Moreland and Fleischer. This first-rate text expeditiously gives you a shove into the uncharted deep end. But what a deep end!

I'm using two books right now for an independent study (Moreland and Fleischer, and the respected "Wheelock's Latin"). These books used together (allowing you the whole pool) is the way to go. Wheelock holds your hand, tells you stories, and provides cutesy sentences that stick in your head (Apollo me saepe servat), which makes for a nice break from the other text, i.e., the one that takes no prisoners and shoves the subjunctive mood down your throat in chapter 2 (Wheelock waits until chapter 28!!). But, as mentioned, this student of Latin recommends a cautious mixture of the two texts.

One slightly negative comment on the Moreland and Fleischer, however: there is no key for the unit exercises, which makes it very frustrating after you've spent 20 minutes piecing together a lengthy sentence translation. Soon, you begin to settle with translations like "Unless the cares of the women are met, the sailors will be condemned by the inhabitants, and the people of the province will not work." Huh?

In short, this book is highly useful but certainly not for the (pardon the cliché) faint of heart.

BONAM FORTUNAM!

This is a fine Latin text for the mature or adult student who is able and willing to learn and to study Latin as more than a hobby. I must add for the consumer's sake that a previous review is very misleading. "Bennett's New Latin Grammar," suggested as an alternative, is not a textbook, but a reference grammar best suited for beginning to intermediate Latin students (more advanced grammars being "Allen & Greenough" and "Hale & Buck"). Wheelock is a fine alternative to "Latin: An Intensive Course," and is somewhat easier to follow, but either book will suit a mature individual. I highly recommend using in addition a good mid-level dictionary (Chambers-Murray being the best for size, scope, and price) as well as a good beginning reference grammar (Bennett being the most readily available, and probably the easiest to use--but you'll want to upgrade later).

I have now completed my fourth reading of this very excellent work by Moreland and Fleischer. While it may be true as one reviewer states that many of the sentences in this book do not resemble "real" Latin by "real" authors, readers should remember that these sentences are exercises -- not passages. Their purpose is to present puzzles whose solutions will leave a strong impression upon those students who continue to the end of the book where "real Latin" does indeed occur: Caesar, Petronius, Cicero, Martial, and others are represented in brief passages.

But forget about the passages. This book shines in its ability to communicate grammatical principles clearly, in a logical order, with little wasted space. Having completed its eighteen units, students will be able to jump easily into Livy or Pliny and thence into the wider corpus.

I learned Latin from this book. I now use it as a teaching text for my independent study kids (high school). The book can be completed in about three semesters, exposing students to the entire grammar (and some reading experience) early enough to have them reading Ovid and Vergil while their peers are still struggling with semi-deponent verbs and the ablative absolute.

Forget Wheelock and buy this book. By the time the binding falls apart (and it will) you'll be well on your way to great grammatical skills. These rapidly developed skills will come at the expense of the wider vocabulary encountered in other texts, but the memorization of vocabulary is relatively cheap and easy work.

I have used this book with my students (accelerated beginners course, undergraduates/postgraduates) over a period of several years, simply because it is THE intensive course available, there is nothing else on the market that moves quickly enough for my needs. However, I have strong reservations about it. Most seriously, some of the Latin is dodgy, the grammar simply is not correct. Also, the exercises often sound very un-Roman; you get the impression that the authors are making their sentences up from the handbook but haven't read enough of the real stuff. This is not the tongue that Caesar spake! Furthermore, the exercises are full of strange people doing strange things- so the poor student can never be sure that he has got the translation right. The English is almost as stilted as the Latin. My favourite sentence is the one about the man who would easily have overcome the soldiers "if his rather heavy arms had not fallen from his very strong hands" (extra marks if you can visualise!). To complicate matters further, Moreland & Fleischer are experts at explaining a grammatical concept three chapters after they have asked the student to translate it.
I deal with these difficulties by giving my students strict instructions as to what exercises they are supposed to do; but it is not a suitable book for teaching yourself. For my part, it is a book I am stuck with, not one I recommend.

This is probably one of the best books to learn the latin language. Every base is covered within its pages. The book is very intensive and every word and sentence is important - there isn't any "fluff" in this book. This being the case the book may not be for everyone. If you are motivated and study hard you will build a very solid foundation in the latin language using this book. That being said, I agree with earlier posts in the construction of this book. A book of this quality should come in a durable clothbound edition. The pages in my copy are falling out and the publisher should be ashamed of the book craftsmanship. Why are the best books given the worst binding ? GET THIS BOOK IN HARDCOVER.

Simply put, unless you have already done Ancient Greek, there is no way that you can use this book as a self taught beginner. As a beginner, you definitely need an instructor to get you going with this book.

If you want to learn latin on your own, this is the second book you should get after the equally excellent Wheelock's Latin (Wheelock's Latin), Workbook for Wheelock's Latin, and A Comprehensive Guide to Wheelock's Latin: Newly Revised for Wheelock's 6th Edition.

Wheelock spends a lot of time teaching how to inflect, but comparatively little time on syntax. So, by the time you are done you know grammar, but the reading skill is quite low since your experience with putting words together is small.

Enter Rita and Floyd (the nickname for this book): grammar is done fast, fast, fast, so it is out of the way asap; huge emphasis is put on the vocabulary listings where the words are explained not just translated. The subjunctive is in Chapter 2 along with the conditional sentences.

Therefore, the student is confronted with challenging reading situations very early on. You see, Rita and Floyd want to teach you how to read so the grammar has to get done fast. Wheelock cares about teaching grammar and the reading is done in the second book of the series Wheelock's Latin Reader, 2e: Selections from Latin Literature (The Wheelock's Latin Series).

So, the comparisons between these two texts are not fair. Which one is the best depends on your background, temperament, and whether you have an instructor or not.

But, I definitely think the following if you are learning on your own:
1. Get Wheelock (Textbook, workbook, Grote's companion). You will know grammar, but not how to to read that well.
2. Get this one. It reviews what Wheelock covers but also hones to the extreme the ability to read

My experience with the text comes from a 7 week course at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA. This text covers the majority of Latin syntax in 18 intense chapters. The bulk of the syntax, however, is really covered by chapter 12, with the remaining chapters covering important but not difficult ideas such as "cum" and result clauses.

From the student's perspective, the main weaknesses are the horrible, awkward and unnatural Latin practice sentences in the "preliminary exercises". And, there are only answers to a few of the exercises, making it difficult to self-check. When time is of the essence, as it is in intensives, there is not time to go over all the exercises in class. "Floyd and Rita" really should fix this deficiency.
Additionally, sentences used to illustrate ideas such as the ablative absolute, are not taken from primary sources. Their examples sentences tend to be very simple, making it even harder to recognize concepts in a tediously long sentence from Seneca.
Further, Floyd and Rita's discussion of ideas such as the gerund/gerundive is very brief. They are accurate discussions, but brief. I highly recommend using Wheelock's Latin as a sidebar. His examples are better, and his explanations tend to "stick to your bones".

Latin primary sources are graduated. That is, early in the text the readings are horribly butchered for pedogogical reasons. Floyd and Rita have no choice here. But what they do well, is quickly reduce the adaptations so that by Ch 18, one is reading at an intermediate level.

The appendix is okay, but somehow not as easy to reference as Wheelock's. In short, this text gets the job done, but there is little room or time to bask in the excitement of reading Caesar. I compare it to drinking Milk of Magnesia. No fun here. But then, intensive Latin classes are hard pressed to be so. You will indeed learn from Floyd and Rita. (but get Wheelock too!)

I used this as a way to cram Latin down myself before taking the M.A. program at the Warburg. Learning Latin from this is the equivalent of getting a drink of water from a fire hose. The subjunctive in the second chapter..?! You have GOT to be kidding....but they do, and it works.

The most frustrating part is the inability to check one's translations of the exercises against anything, and yes, quite a few of the sentences are extremely contorted to the point of generating different interpretations from different Latin profs.
After I finished this I found I still needed much more practice for those long Latin sentences with N dependent clauses (figuring out what pronoun referred to what.)

Still, this will pound Latin grammer into you the way that you will never forget. Highly recommended....except yes, the binding is horrid and my copy is now nothing more than a pile of ordered pages.

As it is stated in the beginning of the book, it was designed for intensive seminars, and is on a four week schedule(pg. xi). It is so concentrated because it is a refresher course. If I needed to rebuild my foundation in Latin, I would want Moreland and Fleischer, rather than Wheelock. Wheelock is the best in its field, but in rapid review, Moreland and Fleischer is No. 1. As to supplementals, it would be foolhardy to buy any foreign language text(with plans to continue in the language) without a reference grammar, I recommend Gildersleeve for Latin studies. I hope this has been helpful.